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Zoroaster and Us–Lessons from Persepolis

Andrew Szabo — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:52:43 +0000

Having recently reviewed Ellen Forney’s Marbles, I would now like to take up one aspect of another notable graphic memoir, Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis (New York: Pantheon, 2003-2004). Persepolis relates the story of Marjane Satrapi, who grew up during the time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. (The story was made into a feature movie that [...]

Licorice

Andrew Szabo — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:08:50 +0000

“Our audience is like people who like licorice,” Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead once said. “Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.” ”Annals of Obsession: Deadhead–The Afterlife,” by Nick Paumgarten for The New Yorker. One path to marketing success is “licorice,” in Jerry Garcia’s sense. This could [...]

Spreadsheet Hell

Andrew Szabo — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:58:00 +0000

An illustration of Dante’s Inferno by Gustave Doré (1832-1883). Heavy reliance on spreadsheets is a characteristic common to many emerging enterprises. The common element is lack of adequate investment in databases and system integration. The spreadsheet, though a handy tool for a single user working on a defined task, can fall far short [...]

Bipolarity and Creativity: A Graphic Memoir Explores the Relationship

Andrew Szabo — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:52:50 +0000

Ellen Forney’s graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, is a brave, funny and self-revealing work exploring how an artist can make peace with bipolar disorder without losing the creative spark. Forney, a graphic artist working out of Seattle, opens her work with a tattoo technician inking her back. The big design, of [...]

Questions Grow About Evolution of Human Running Style

Andrew Szabo — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:39:04 +0000

We had discussed in an earlier blog–see Chi Style of Running May Head off Injuries– Danny Dreyer’s Chi Running: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running (New York: Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 2009; 2nd ed.). One premise of Dreyer’s approach (and by no means his only emphasis) is that midfoot striking is a more “natural” method of [...]

Are You Nursing Your Sunk Costs?

Andrew Szabo — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:10:22 +0000

In our last blog, we discussed (among other things) the cognitive error called “retrospective bias.” See Retrospection and Imprisonment. Another common cognitive error, also related to backward-looking thinking, is called “loss aversion.” An aspect of loss aversion is called the Fallacy of Sunk Cost; you commit this fallacy when you sacrifice to preserve an [...]

Retrospection and Imprisonment

Andrew Szabo — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 13:41:54 +0000

Nothing seems clearer (in retrospect) than the recent past, and one feature that may distinguish the human psyche is our habit to look back. In the Book of Genesis, God punishes Lot’s wife for disobeying him by looking back upon Sodom; He turns her into a pillar of salt. It seems a harsh act by [...]

Endurance Exercise and Brain Health

Andrew Szabo — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:03:12 +0000

Two recent articles from the “Well” blog of the NY Times suggest a deep link between regular endurance exercise and brain health. “How Working the Muscles May Boost Brain Power” (5/19/2012, by Gretchen Reynolds) reviews studies done with laboratory animals at the Laboratory of Neuroscience of the National Institute on Aging. The experimental design problem [...]

Evidence for Compassion in Prehistoric Peoples

Andrew Szabo — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 03:07:37 +0000

A recent article in the New York Times reviews striking evidence that some prehistoric peoples cared for disabled and unwell persons. “Ancient Bones that Tell a Story of Compassion,” by James Gorman. While digging south of Saigon, in Vietnam, Archeologists Lorna Tilley and Marc Oxenham, of Australian National University in Canberra, unearthed the bones [...]

Learned Optimism or Learned Effectiveness?

Andrew Szabo — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 04:37:31 +0000

A recent column by Jane Brody in the New York Times “Well” blog, A Richer Life by Seeing the Glass Half Full, asserts that although part of optimistic behavior has a genetic basis, as mediated by neuro-transmitters, the trait can also be enhanced through learning. Brody humorously defines an “optimist” as “[s]omeone, like me, [...]